


Touch

by TheLoneLunatic



Category: Haven (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Gen, haven things, pure fluff, telepath empath trouble, touch telepath trouble
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:22:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24887521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLoneLunatic/pseuds/TheLoneLunatic
Summary: Moving to Haven is a new start. She can't touch anyone or be touched, but that doesn't stop her from falling in love with Haven's resident bad boy.
Relationships: Duke Crocker/OFC, Duke Crocker/Reader, Duke Crocker/You
Comments: 3
Kudos: 17





	Touch

Working at The Grey Gull was the best decision She could have made. Coming to Haven was a close second, but the Gull was beginning to feel safe. She’d only been there a week, but Duke and Audrey had a way of making her feel less anxious. When she first arrived in Haven, she had hidden from the world, wearing long sleeves, hoodies, gloves, whatever she could to cover any inch of visible skin. Working with Duke though, that changed her. He taught her how to avoid people and still be able to be comfortable in the clothes she decided to wear. She still wore the gloves though, too afraid not to.

Of course Duke eventually asked about her trouble. Why come to Haven if you weren’t troubled. It’s not like people were taking vacations to Haven, Maine, spook central. She tried explaining it but that wasn’t enough for Duke Crocker.

“I don’t believe you can drop a man with emotions.” She wanted to laugh, she really did. Except she knew just how well her trouble worked. 

“I’m telling you Duke, you don’t want to experience it.”

“Except I really, really do.” He gave her that crooked smile with that wicked glint in his eyes and she caved. She felt Duke’s eyes on her the rest of the night but she said nothing. The minute the doors of the Gull were locked, Duke was standing in front of her reaching for her gloved hands.

“Wait, Duke.” She took a deep breath, trying to put into words exactly what was going to happen when she touched him. “When I touch you, not only will you feel what I feel, but you’ll feel it ten times as strong as I do.”

“That can’t be all bad,” he interrupted her. She figured he wouldn’t listen to what she was saying until he experienced it, so she motioned for him to sit down while she removed her gloves. Once he was sitting, she tried to think where to touch him. She settled for his arm, right below where his sleeves were rolled up.

“I’m not saying this won’t hurt, but it won’t be pleasant at all.” Before Duke could rattle off some sentence like ‘I can take it” she placed her palm flat against his skin, fingers wrapping around right below his elbow. His eyes went wide, his breath catching in his lungs, face white as a sheet. She held it there for only a second before Duke’s eyes closed and he slumped over in the chair. She removed her hand, hastily putting her gloves back on before adjusting him to where his head was resting on the table. 

She grabbed a glass of water and a cold rag from the kitchen. Some of the people she had touched since the troubles returned woke up nauseous or just straight up puked the minute they regained consciousness. Duke was beginning to stir as she returned to the table. She placed the glass of water directly in front of him, placing the cold rag on his neck. She made sure the only contact she had was through her gloves. She didn’t know what would happen to someone if she touched them with bare skin back to back, and she wasn’t about to find out with her new boss.

“I told you, it’s not fun.”

“Fuck, that’s what you feel? All day?” He was sitting up now, the rag falling from his neck as he took a swig from the glass of water. All She could do was nod, trying to hide the embarrassment rising on her cheeks. He must have noticed because he began to reach for her, stopping short of her wrist, “Why do you carry so much anxiety?”

“I constantly have to worry about if I’m going to make people pass out, just from my touch Duke. I have to constantly be vigilant. If I focus really really hard, I can handle passing glances with only minimal emotional transfer. What you just felt is what happens if I let my guard down for even a second.” 

“I’m sorry. Is there anything I can do, to help with the anxiety?” She couldn’t help the smile rising on her face. Of course he would want to help her. Pure, selfless Duke always thinking about others. She knew, from stories, that he hasn’t always been this was. Apparently Nathan and Audrey had been really good for him.

“I just, I can keep the wall up as I call it, during the day. But when I’m done with work, and we just relax and have a drink, that’s when it’s really hard. Just promise me you won’t touch me without warning? I couldn’t handle it if something happened to you because of me.” Duke nodded, drinking from his glass of water again. “I’m gonna head back to the hotel. This has been an interesting day.”

As she was grabbing her things to leave, she could feel Duke’s eyes following her every move. Ignoring it was easy at first as she had to gather everything up but when she began to head to the door, she couldn’t ignore it any longer. “Did i do something wrong?”

“No, of course not,” he replied quickly, shaking his head as if to gather his thoughts. “I just, uh, if you’re planning on staying in Haven, you should really have a proper place to live.”

“I’ve been looking, but surprisingly the market isn’t that great here,” she ended on a laugh, her bag beginning to slip off of her shoulder. 

“I live on a boat,” Duke stated. When he didn’t continue she nodded, a soft “I know” leaving her lips. “I live on a boat, and I have like 4 spare rooms. You could rent one of those if you wanted? It's got a kitchen and a couple bathrooms and everything?”

“Knowing what I can do,” she gestured to her gloved hands, “you not only want me to work with you, but you want to share a living space with me?” When Duke simply nodded, she shook her head as she readjusted her bag strap. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you. I’ll check out of the hotel in the morning.” With that, Duke offered her a ride to what would be her new home. As Duke helped her into the truck, she made sure he only came into contact with the covered parts of her arms.

Duke showed her around the boat, showing her which room and bathroom would be hers. He was pleasantly surprised when the extra rooms all had sheets and blankets with them. She honestly expected just a mattress and a random throw blanket he had lying around. Once he was done showing her the rest of the boat, he decided he was going to head to bed. She figured he was exhausted from the night's events. Knowing she should get some sleep instead of exploring, her curiosity got the better of her. She changed into loose pajama pants and a tank top before heading to the kitchen to make a drink. 

Exploring the boat was actually scarier than she expected it to be. She didn’t remember which floor she was on now but she knew she’d gotten turned around. The hallway she was in was dark so she ran the hand not holding her drink against the wall looking for a light switch, or honestly a switch of any kind. She followed the wall until she found the steps leading up. She ascended them in darkness, her heart beating so loud she assumed the neighbors could hear it. 

When she was back on level ground, she reached around, sure she had to be in the common or kitchen area. Instead of a counter or couch, she touched a bare chest, not able to silence the scream that tore from her throat. Whoever she had touched dropped to the ground in a heap, no more than a strangled noise making it from their throat. 

Trying to quell the panic rising in her chest, she eventually found a counter, setting her drink down and flipping any switch she could get her fingers on. The lights came on just as the person on the floor began to stir. Her panic ebbed away as she realized the person was none other than Duke. She ran to him, kneeling next to him and reaching for him. She caught her hands at the last second, sitting down on the cold floor and tucking them into her pajama bottoms to prevent any further urge to touch. 

Duke was sitting up now, leaning against one of the couches she was looking for. He pushed the hair out of his face, gathering it into the band around his wrist and tying it low on his head. When he was done he just looked at her and laughed. 

“Remind me to never, ever scare you again.” His laughter was breathless and it did weird things to her stomach that she tried desperately to ignore. 

“I’m so sorry Duke,” she began apologetically. “You were supposed to be asleep and I was just looking around. I wasn’t snooping, just getting a feel for the place.”

“I don’t know if you’ve ever been on a boat before, but there's absolutely nothing you can’t hear on here.” She laughed, not able to help the nervous energy rolling off of her. Duke got to his feet, offering her a hand and then thinking better of it. She used the couch and the space he had given her to get back to her feet before offering an awkward goodnight and heading towards what she hoped was her room. 

From that night on, she never walked the boat without making sure Duke knew first. It had been a couple of months since that night and luckily, they had had no more accidental touching and passing out. She worked full time at the Gull and when she wasn’t working she was either with Duke on the boat, or Audrey and Nathan working on cases. In the past month they began to realize that her trouble wasn’t all bad. If she focused hard enough, she could use her trouble to calm other people. It came in handy the most when other troubled people were dealing with anxiety, fear or even grief. She’d worked a few cases so far, and almost every case she was able to keep the person calm long enough for Audrey and Nathan to explain what was going on and how to fix it.

She had just got back from helping with someone’s fire trouble when she found Duke sitting on the deck of the boat, two drinks in hand. He offered her one without a word. She accepted, setting her bag down before flopping in a chair next to Duke. They had developed a close enough friendship that silences like this were comfortable. SHe enjoyed just being near him, his presence having some sort of calming effect on her. She noticed the more time she spent with Duke, the less anxiety she actually felt. 

On extremely busy nights, leading to some of the worst anxiety she had experienced, they would just sit on the boat and share a drink in the quiet of the night. By the time they said their goodnights, she didn’t feel even an ounce of anxiety. SHe told Duke as much, when the thought popped into her head.

“You still avoid me like the plague,” he offered, his beer tipped towards her. She couldn’t figure out what was different tonight. He wasn’t drunk. They’d been there before. He wasn’t angry or sad from what she could tell, but there was something lurking behind those brown eyes that she couldn’t put her finger on.

“Duke, I don’t avoid you. I just, you don’t understand what it’s like.” She tried desperately to keep the irritation from her voice, but the look on Duke’s face said she didn’t succeed.

“You’re right, I don’t. But that isn’t for lack of trying.” SHe could hear the tone in his voice changning and the last thing she wanted after a long day was to argue. They’d had their fair share of arguments over the past months but never over her trouble. Or his trouble for that matter.

“Duke, it’s been a long day. I’ve told you everything I know about this trouble. I don’t know what more you want.” She rose from the chair, her beer discarded on the floor, preparing to head to bed, that being her last word on the subject.

“If you don’t have anxiety around me anymore, why do you pull away anytime I almost touch you?” He reached for her then, proving his point as she recoiled like she’d been burned. 

“Duke. I literally wear my heart on my sleeve. I can’t have any emotion without worrying if someone is going to feel it, to know how i feel all the time, or worse. What if I’m having a bad day and we touch, Duke? I can’t be the reason you drop stone cold in the middle of a work day.”

“Sometimes I just wanna know how you feel.” His voice was so quiet she almost didn’t hear it. Their beers were long forgotten next to their seats, too focused on the conversation at hand. “You never talk about how you’re feeling. So sometimes the urge to know is just there. I eventually pull away because I can see what the thought of me touching you does. I just,” he trailed off and she had no idea what she could say to make the situation better.

“You wanna know how I feel?” she decided on, and Duke just nodded so she pushed forward, afraid she would chicken out if she didn’t get it all out right now. “Promise me I’ll still have a job once you know?” He tried interrupting but she put her hand up, “Just promise me Duke.” 

“I promise.” She didn’t wait for him to say anything else, just reached out and touched his arm. It was just a bare touch at first, just so he could get a taste of the emotions warring inside of her. When he didn’t pull away she pressed her hand firmly against his arm. She held it there for two, three seconds before pulling away, afraid of what would happen if she kept her hand on him. 

Duke was still sitting upright when she was done, eyes kind of glassy but still open. She said nothing, just sat back down in her chair and watched as Duke processed all of the emotions she just threw at him. After several minutes of silence, she couldn’t take it anymore so she just started talking. 

“I know the more you're exposed to it, the less it affects you. Probably why you didn’t pass out this time. And I wasn't terrified or anxious. I can’t promise those emotions won’t make you pass out.” Duke was staring at her and now she felt fear. She’d kept to herself for the past few months because if he knew how she felt, that she was in love with him, their friendship would be over. He’s in love with Audrey and She knows that, knows that she can never have him. But the longer she spent with him, the harder it was not to love him. Duke tried to act like he was this bad guy, but she saw beneath that exterior to the heart of gold within. And well, once you’ve seen Duke Crocker’s heart, it was next to impossible not to love him. 

“That was,” he looked around as if trying to figure out what he wanted to say. He stood abruptly, grabbing her hand, tugging until she was standing with him as well.

“Duke, don’t.” But he just shushed her, holding onto her hand like his life depended on it. His eyes were no longer glassy but she could tell he was still feeling what she felt. She tried to put a lid on her emotions, lessen what he was feeling but when he was touching her, holding her hands, it was next to impossible. SHe knew he could feel the love rolling off of her in waves and she would have to deal with what happened next.

“Can you feel me?” His voice was strained but determined.

“I’ve never tried. Been too afraid.”The curiosity had always been there, if her trouble worked both ways. She’d never tried it, for fear of overwhelming the poor soul who agreed to help her. 

“Try now.” She could hear the desperation in his voice so she focussed, digging through the emotions she was feeling. From what she could tell, they were all hers. She didn’t feel anything unfamiliar. SHe continued searching, trying to find something that didn't belong to her. Right when she was about to give up, a wave of affection hit her. She didn’t know how or why, but she knew that belonged to Duke. 

“Duke,” she tried to speak but more emotions began to flood her senses, more affection, love, admiration and so many others she couldn’t name. She basked in the feelings, not even trying to hide the smile on her face. “Are those?”

“Mine,” he interrupted. “They’re mine.” A laugh bubbled out of her throat, a little wet with the tears she was holding back. She wanted to say so many things, but Duke released her hand, cupping her jaw and forcing her to meet his eyes. “I know,” he said as if he could understand her. And she guessed, like this, with all of the contact between them, that he could understand everything she couldn’t say. “When I’m projecting what I feel, it doesn’t overwhelm my senses as much. Kinda puts us on an even playing ground.” She couldn’t help the smile on her face, or the sparkle in her eyes.

“I need to know,” she broke off before she could finish, the smile falling from her lips at what she was about to say next. Duke said nothing, still holding her hands, giving her the time she needed to gather her thoughts. “What about Audrey?”

“Audrey,” he questioned, like she had no reason to worry about her. “I’m not in love with Audrey. I thought I was but then I met you. It’s like I was waiting for you.” She didn’t even try to hide her sigh of relief. She was smiling again, and now Duke’s face matched her own. “I don’t know when it happened, but it did. I’m in love with you.”

She couldn’t believe Duke was the first one to say it but she was so grateful he did. “I’m in love with you too, even though that goes without saying,” she gestured to where their hands were still laced together. “I know, the more we touch, you’ll eventually get used to the wave of emotions, hopefully,” she ended in a laugh.

“I’m willing to find out if you are.” Before she could even speak a reply, Duke’s lips were on hers, his hands snaking around her back to come to rest just below her butt. He lifted and out of instinct she wrapped her legs around his back so she didn’t fall. She knew there was no way he was getting them down the stairs like this, but she didn’t care at that moment. Duke continued to kiss her as he laid her down on one of the many tables on the deck. He pulled back with a smile before trailing kisses down her neck, pushing her shirt to the side to reach her collar bones. 

“As much as I love where this is going, I would really love it if our first time was not on a dock where anyone could see us.” Duke just laughed before stepping back, offering a hand to help her up. He continued to hold her hand, even going down the ladder, only letting go when he ushered her into the room and locked the door behind them. She had no idea where her trouble would take her, but she was glad Duke was the one she would be finding it out with.


End file.
